Breaking Glass
by Jeff
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.


 

a broken antique bottle

Minor Threat - "Bottled Violence" [buy]

A screed against getting boozed up and fighting kicks off with the sound of smashing glass. Sounds about right. The bass comes next, followed by the rest of the band, barrelling forward at speed, unwilling to waste any of the song's fifty-four seconds on anything as ornamental as a solo or breakdown. Ian MacKaye's yelling voice is raspy and perfect, delivering even the weakest rhyme in the song - "drink your grain / ... you don't feel pain" - with nothing but the purest conviction. My tape of the Anthology was a security blanket in grade ten.

The Gories - "Rat's Nest" [buy]

In "Rat's Nest" by The Gories smashing glass is just one of several homemade sound effects. The soundscape of a messed-up alleyway unravels behind the band's queasy minimal blues rock; shattering glass, hollering neighbours, clattering rubbish. It's enough to drive someone up the wall, and the grizzled character singing the song seems to be teetering on the edge as he narrates his Sisyphean labours to keep the damn alley clean. As the toms pound hypnotically, and the dual guitars veer in and out of skronking solos, the psychodrama of one citizen trying to keep the city tidy seems doomed to fail.

Royal Headache -"Garbage" [buy]

Beginning with a hail of smashing glass, "Garbage" is a revenge song. Riding in on a churning bass lick, Royal Headache's frontman, the preposterously named Shogun, lets his target have it. In his soulful Aussie voice he shouts "You belong in the GARBAGE!" Yikes! One of my favourite records of last year, High is a polished set of songs dealing with lost love and self-reflection. The wild vitriol of "Garbage" is a perfect intermission from the heavy themes, calling back to the band's scrappy origins and their powerful 2011 debut LP.

(image source)

Posted by Jeff at April 19, 2016 2:14 AM
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Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.

Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.

Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.

Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.

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Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.

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